Fighting Trolls
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled in favor of LG Electronics in a case between LG and “patent troll” InterDigital related to the renewal of their patent license agreement. It is the first time for a Korean company to win a case at SCOTUS.
According to industry sources on May 7, SCOTUS recently stated that the dispute between LG and InterDigital could be resolved through arbitration, invalidating the decision made by the US Court of Appeals.
Previously, the patent troll brought a lawsuit against the Korean tech giant to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) in 2011 for patent fees. ITC ruled that the case between InterDigital and LG must be arbitrated by accepting LG’s arguments. However, the Federal Circuit reversed ITC decision, ruling that a lawsuit is also possible by accepting InterDigital’s claims.
Given that SCOTUS has overturned the lower court’s decision and ruled that it is invalid to precede negotiations with filing a lawsuit, it will no longer be easy for non-practicing entities, or “patent trolls,” to successfully execute a strategy to demand excessive royalties using lawsuits as a weapon.
Editor’s Note: The original title of this article was “LG Electronics Wins Patent Lawsuit against Patent Troll in the US.” I replaced it with the much more click-baity headline above. Did the headline work on you? Please comment below.